1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sealing structure between a body and a door of the vehicle. More specifically, the invention relates to weather strips mounted along an opening part of the door opening or along a peripheral part of the door.
2. Description of the Related Art
As illustrated in FIG. 10, along a door opening peripheral part 1 of vehicle body, an opening trim weather strip is continuously provided so as to seal between the door opening peripheral part 1 and an outer peripheral part of a door 3.
As illustrated in FIG. 11A, the opening trim weather strip 5 has a mounting base part 51 and a hollow seal part 52 projecting from one side face of the mounting base part 51. The mounting base part 51 is attached to a flange 2 formed on the door opening peripheral part 1.
The hollow seal part 52 has a structure in which tip ends of side-face projections 521 and 522 protruding from the one side face of the mounting base part 51 in such a way as to increase the distance therebetween toward the tip ends thereof are connected to each other by a seal wall 523. The weather strip 5 is an extrusion of a rubber-like elastic material, such as rubber and a thermoplastic elastomer. The mounting base part 51 is made of a solid material. The seal wall 523 is made of a sponge material. Both the side-face projections 521 and 522 may be made of a solid material substantially over the full width thereof. Alternatively, the side-face projections 521 and 522 may be configured so that only the bottom parts connected to the mounting base parts 51 are made of a solid material, while the rest of each of the side-face projections 521 and 522 is made of the sponge material, which is the same as that employed as the material of the seal wall 523.
The flange 2 projects from the door opening peripheral part 1 in a direction along the vehicle body side face provided around the opening part 1. Further, as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11A, the flange 2 projects downwardly, obliquely and outwardly at a roofside portion 1A of an upper part of the door opening peripheral part 1. Furthermore, the flange 2 projects rearwardly and frontwardly at front and rear vertical portions 1B and 1C of the opening part 1, respectively. Moreover, the flange 2 projects perpendicularly and upwardly at a rocker portion 1D of the bottom part of the opening part 1. Further, the mounting base part 51, which has a substantially U-shaped section, of the weather strip 5 covers and is fitted onto this flange 2. Incidentally reference numeral 4 in FIG. 11B denotes a door glass.
Because of the fact that the projecting direction, in which the flange 2 projects from the door opening peripheral part 1, varies with the parts thereof, a direction, in which the outer peripheral part of the door 3 is pressed against the seal wall 523 of the weather strip 5 attached to the flange 2, varies with the parts of the opening part 1.
FIGS. 10, 12A, 12B, 12C, and 12D illustrate the approaching directions (pressing direction), in which the door 3 approaches to the flange 2, at the roofside portion 1A, the front vertical portion 1B, the rear vertical portion 1B, and the rocker portion 1D, respectively. At the roofside portion 1A, as indicated by an arrow PA, the door 3 approaches from an oblique direction. At the front vertical portion 1B to which the door 3 is hinge-connected, as indicated by an arrow PB, the door 3 approaches from a more oblique direction. At the rear vertical portion 1C, and the rocker portion 1D, as indicated by arrows arrow PC, and PD, the door 3 approaches from a direction that is substantially perpendicular to the flange 2 (namely approaching angles α2<α1<α3, α4). Usually, the difference between the approaching angles α2 and α3 is 50° or so.
Therefore, when a continuous weather strip extruded so as to have sections of the same shape is attached to the door opening peripheral part 1, the direction in which the door is pressed against the seal wall varies greatly with the parts of the opening part 1. Accordingly, the seal performance of the weather strip 5 varies greatly therewith.
Further, a rising angle β of an inner side-face projection 522 of weather strip 5 with respect to a side face 511, which is parallel to the flange 2, of the mounting base part 51 is set to be equal to or more than an approach angle α of the door 3, the side-face projection 522 serves as a strut for the door 3 that approaches there, so that a door closing force increases. Thus, it is unfavorable to set the rising angle β in such a manner.
When the rising angle β of the side-face projection 522 is set to be less than an approach angle α2 of the door 3 in the case that the weather strip 5 formed along the door opening peripheral part 1 by an extrusion method so as to have sections of the same shape, a direction, in which the side-face projection 522 extends, is too much apart from the approaching directions PA and PC of the door 3, which correspond to the roofside portion 1A of the door opening peripheral part 1 and to the rear vertical portion 1C thereof, respectively. When the seal wall 523 is inwardly pressed at the time of closing the door, as indicated by dashed lines in FIG. 11B, and an amount of displacement of the pressed seal wall 523 is large, an end portion of the seal wall 523 connected to the side-face projection 522 bulges out from a tip end of the side-face projection 522 toward the inside of a vehicle interior. This bulge portion 522′ appears in a vehicle interior and thus disfigures the appearance of the vehicle interior and deteriorates the quality thereof.
On the other hand, door weather strips, which are illustrated in FIGS. 13 and 14A through 14C for example, are attached to a front door or a rear door of the vehicle for sealing between the door and the vehicle body.
As shown in FIG. 13, a door weather strip 70 (the figure illustrates a front door weather strip) has a plurality (three in this example) of extrusion parts 71, 72, and 73, each of which extends substantially linearly. Further, end faces of such extrusion parts 71 to 73 are connected by a plurality (in the case of this example, 3) of molding parts 74.
Furthermore, as illustrated in FIGS. 14A to 14C, the extrusion parts 71 to 73 commonly have this door weather strip 70 that has a mounting base portion 75, a hollow seal portion 76, and a backside seal 77 outwardly protruding from the seal portion 76. Although not shown in the figures, each of the molding parts 74 has a mounting base portion, a seal portion, and a backside seal, which respectively continue into the mounting base portion 75, the seal portion 76, and the backside seal 77 of the corresponding two of the extrusion parts 71 to 73. Incidentally reference numeral 78 in FIG. 14A denotes a sub-seal lip.
When the state of the door is changed from an opening state to a closed state, such the weather strip 70 elastically deforms in a state in which the seal portion 76 is in contact with an opening part 80 of the vehicle body. Thus, the inside and the outside of the vehicle are sealed through the weather strip 70 between the body and the door of the vehicle.
However in the conventional door weather strip, there is a fear that when the seal portion 76 and the opening part 80 are brought into contact with each other so as to close the door, the entire seal portion 76 elastically deforms by simultaneously inclining only in a limited direction with respect to a center line D as indicated by dashed lines in FIGS. 14A to 14C.
When the entire seal portion 76 deforms in this way, the resistance to a movement of closing the door becomes large. Further, when the entire seal portion 76 deforms by simultaneously inclining only in a limited direction as described above, sliding friction is caused in a contact part between the seal portion 76 and the opening part 80. Thus, there is a fear that the resistance to a movement of closing the door increases still more.
In such a case, a door closing force at the time of closing the door becomes large. Thus, the conventional door weather strip has a problem that the feeling of closing the door is deteriorated. Moreover, because of the fact that a pressure-contact state of bringing the seal portion 76 and the opening part 80 into contact with each other is a state in which the side wall portion of the hollow seal portion 76 is in planar-contact with the opening part 80, there is a fear that the sealing performance of the weather strip is degraded owing to fatigue thereof.
Such actual conditions are almost common to not only the case of the front door but also the case of the rear door.
The unevenness of that the sealing properties along the door is caused by a fact that orientation of the sealing walls is not properly adjusted so as to correspond to the shape of the mating member received by such the seal walls.
However, most of the conventional weather strips as described above are continuously formed by extrusion, having uniform sectional shapes in the longitudinal direction thereof.
The weather strip having different sectional shapes in the longitudinal direction would be possibly obtained by performing molding for corner portions so as to connect the separate extruded weather strips. However, such the molding process inevitably raises manufacturing costs.